A Happier Turn
by ReNeOed
Summary: Harry secretly likes Hermione, so he moves away in order to stop from having to hang out with Ron and her, and ends up falling for a muggle. But how will everyone react? Especially Hermione? No HP/GW!


Chapter 1

* * *

He smiled at her from across the crowded room. She smiled back and then went back to her conversation with her boyfriend. She was about to raise another argument about his refusal to finish school when she heard a baby's shriek and looked in that direction to gain a wide grin on her face, one that mirrored nearly every other person in the room, as the shriek turned into beautiful and infectious laughter as Harry caught the airborne Teddy Lupin in his hands and rubbed his nose with his own.

She waved at Andromeda Tonks, who had apparently just arrived with her grandson who now had his face hidden in his godfather's neck.

She sighed when she realized Ron was still speaking. She cut him off with a quick "Let's talk about this later, Ron" and moved towards the three. As she neared them, she heard Harry whispering to Teddy, "Don't you dare forget me, little guy..." before he heard her coming towards him.

He looked up and grinned at her. She grinned back as he handed the baby to her waiting arms. She looked into Teddy's beautiful big eyes which were green at the moment and cooed softly, "Hey you beautiful baby! You missed me?"

She looked up at Harry smiling and saw him looking at them with undisguised adoration. Teddy started to lean towards his grandmother so she handed him to Andromeda who wished her a good morning before saying "I believe Harry has something to tell you, so I'll leave you two alone" and left.

"I'd... uh... come on," he said with a glare in Andromeda's direction before taking her hand and pulling her into an empty room. He cast muffliato around them before looking shyly at her. He began, "Hermione, a few weeks ago, I got a job offer and I've... thought about it a lot, and I've decided to take it."

"That's great! Congratulations, Harry." She moved forward to give him a hug but his hand on her breast stopped her. He quickly put it into his pocket and apologized. "Sorry! I just meant to stop you before you got too excited. Didn't mean to do that."

"Okay, sure." She told him, nodding and silently laughing.

Her mind came to the realization that he won't be coming to Hogwarts almost at the same time as when she heard, "The job's in New York."

"New York?" She croaked out.

"I know I should've told you about it before, but..."

"And this is New York, USA? But... Why?"

"I just need to get away from here, Hermione. I mean... Being famous, and I don't know, just magic! I don't want to live like this."

"What are you talking about? You love magic!"

"Sure, I love magic, but Hermione, I'm just not happy here. I keep thinking about leaving somehow, and this is actually a brilliant opportunity. You won't believe what I'll be doing there."

Hermione just stayed silent, her face showing her incredulity.

"I'll be cooking."

"You'll be what?"

"Cooking! Isn't it great?"

"No, it's not, especially not if it's so far away. Can't you just do it here in England? Can't you do it anywhere you can at least portkey here from."

"Hermione, it's a great place. Trust me. It's almost unbelievable that they've actually accepted my application. Maybe one of the recruiters was a squib or something. Trust me, it's great for me. I'm gonna be learning from some of the best chefs in the world. It was actually a childhood dream of mine to work there. I saw it once on TV, it's just great -"

"Oh shut up! Harry, what are you doing? And why? What about us? What about me? How the hell are we gonna see each other!. God! What do you want me to do?"

"Please don't be mad, Hermione. I should've talked to you about it, I know, but I wasn't really expecting them to accept me. Till today, I'd thought I'd be going to Hogwarts with you."

"That's what you should be doing, Harry! Think about it. How can you give up magic? You'll miss it for the rest of your life."

"Hermione, I'm not happy here. And I don't think I can be. I have to go."

"No, you don't. What about Teddy? Are you gonna just abandon him as well?"

"Hermione, I'm not abandoning anyone. And once I'm settled there, Teddy and Andi can come live with me."

Hermione groaned in exasperation. "I don't know what to say, Hermione. I'm sorry!" Hermione just shook her head at him, silent tears flowing down her face.

"Hey!" Harry moved a little closer and she flung herself at him, hugging the life out of him, holding back the part of her that wanted to beat it out of him.

"I'm sorry."

"I'll miss you!" She told him, her voice reminding him of the time she had offered to go along with him while he walked to his death. He gave her a sad smile. "I'll miss you too, but I know I'll be happier there, somewhere nobody knows me, you know."

She just hugged him again, trying to remember every little bit of the man in front of her, not letting him go until he told her, "Um, there was another thing."

"What?" She whispered, wiping some tears from her cheeks.

"I'm leaving in a week." Again she flung herself at him, only this time she didn't feel the need to hold any part back.

* * *

The goodbyes were full of tears. Mrs. Weasley, Andromeda and even Fleur had bidden him farewell with tears. Bill and George had also said their goodbyes at the Burrow. Mr. Weasley had really wanted to come with them to the airport, but Hermione had disappointed him with the news that he couldn't really go see the airplanes up close, and he had then instead chosen to go to work. In fact, Hermione had even tried to discourage Ron from going with them, bringing up his nervousness in muggle crowds, to which he had responded after some thought, "Well, I might have to hang out with your mum-dad, might as well get some practice." Hermione, in an attempt to not ruin the moment, had chosen to stay quiet.

Ron, Hermione and Harry went to the airport in a cab, having chosen to leave Teddy behind with Andi instead of risking bringing the little metamorphmagus to a place filled with muggles. Harry was a little surprised that Hermione had stayed as quiet as she did throughout the journey, expecting her to at least tell him about her previous visits to the airport, but instead she had barely said a word the whole ride, just occasionally catching his eye and giving him a sad smile. From time to time, she rubbed her forehead, as if trying to quell a headache or perhaps trying to stop her tears. Harry felt horrible about making her this sad. Her reaction felt like the worst part of the whole moving-to-USA thing, though he knew that soon they would all get used to not being around each other, and then maybe at least he'd be happier. She was just losing a friend. He knew she would soon get over him. But he was losing everything, Teddy, Andromeda, the Weasleys, her. Of course, that also meant not having to constantly be in the company of the girl he was in love with and her boyfriend, which was nice.

As soon as they had stepped out of the cab, Ron went and brought out Harry's bag while Harry paid the cabbie. After he took his bag from Ron, Hermione came beside him and quietly slipped her hand into his. He stole a quick glance at Ron to see if he had any problems with that, but then decided that it didn't really matter. She was his best friend. They could hold hands whether Ron liked it or not, especially today.

Hermione guided them through the airport slowly but still a bit faster than Harry would have liked. His mind was screaming at him for choosing to leave. Now, he didn't want to leave her hand. But soon, too soon, it was time for him to leave. There wasn't much they could say to each other. "I'm sorry!" was the best he could come up with to say to her silently weeping form when she hugged him for the last time. They couldn't tell how long they stayed like that, though Ron could probably tell down to the second, yet when they pulled apart, it felt like no time had passed at all.

Harry wished he had brought Teddy, just so he could see the little guy one more time before he left, but after wiping a few tears from her beautiful face, he took a deep breath, and said, "Not gonna offer to come along, are you?" He gave her a small chuckle when she swatted his arm, and giving her another light hug and a little squeeze, he whispered to her, "Take care of yourself, ok? And you, take care of her, alright?"

"Thought you'd forgotten about me, mate."

"Yeah, what was your name again?"

"Roonil Wazlib! How many times do I have to remind you, mate?"

Harry laughed and gave Ron a manly hug. "I actually had forgotten that."

After taking a step back, he looked at the both of them for a few seconds, and then after rubbing his eyes for a second, smiled and said, "Well, bye!"

For Hermione, the next few months were a terrible reminder of her early childhood, of a life without any real friends. Of course, she still had a few friends. Ginny had become even closer to her than before. Fleur had become a good friend. The other Weasleys treated her like family, and obviously, she had Ron. But this time, she didn't have her parents and also, there was the elephant sized hole in her life because of her missing best friend.

Then there was Teddy. The little guy, once the reason for bringing a massive smile to her face, just like everyone he ever met, had now, for some reason, decided that Hermione was the reason he didn't have his godfather with him anymore. Whenever he saw her, sure he still seemed happy to see her, all cooing and gargling, but not before his hair turned black and his eyes turned green, as if informing her that she was the reason that his Harry was missing.

She reasoned that perhaps it was because every time she had met him before, it had been in Harry's company, but still a part of her had started believing that maybe he was right. Maybe she really was the reason that he had gone. Perhaps not the sole reason, but she wasn't blameless either. She and Ron were supposed to be his best friends, and yet they had spent most of their time after the war without him. Maybe if she had spent some more time with him, he wouldn't have done something as monumentally stupid as moving to USA.

It had been nearly three months since she had last talked to him, and in a few days, she was leaving for Hogwarts. If he didn't send her his number now, she wouldn't be able to talk to him for another four months, at least. Hopefully, the idiot would come home for Christmas, because if he didn't, she was going to... kick his ass. Yes, she was going to go to him and kick his ass, never mind the (slightly) bad word.

Harry's letter didn't arrive until two days before she had to leave for Hogwarts. As soon as she saw a number, Hermione ran to the living room in the empty house, grabbed the phone, fumbled and dropped it, picked it up carefully and then put in the number.

Just after two rings, it was picked by "Hello!", a woman?

Hiding her surprise, Hermione asked, "Hi, is this Harry Potter's number?"

"No, it's mine, but you can talk to him. Just a sec." The sleepy voice answered. After a few seconds, Hermione heard her whispering, "It's some girl for you, babe."

"Hermione?" She heard him ask.

"Hello!" She loudly spoke into the phone.

"Maybe, I didn't ask. Here you go."

"Hello!"

"HARRY!"

"HERMIONE! Oh wait, just a second." She heard the sounds of shuffling and sheets coming off and then steps.

"Hermione! Hey, how are you?"

"I'm great, I'm great. How are you?"

"Brilliant, just brilliant. It's so great to hear your voice."

"Yeah, I just got your letter. Sorry to wake you up, and your friend... Who was that?"

"That was, uh, Emma. It's her number. I didn't have a phone of my own. So, I've been staying here since I sent the letter. So, how is everyone? How's Ron?" He quickly asked.

"Great! He's good."

"So, have you convinced him to go yet?"

"Oh no, there's no chance of him coming now that you aren't."

"Right, right, sorry!" Harry chuckled.

"Yeah." What followed was an awkward silence in which all Hermione could think about was who had picked the phone up and how soon she had given it to Harry, that too after waking him up.

"So, how's everyone else? How's Teddy? How much bigger is he?"

"Everyone's good. Yeah, Teddy's great. And a lot bigger. He misses you. Keeps changing his hair black and eyes green."

"Really? Tell him I miss him too. Not that he'd understand, but still... And I miss you as well..."

"Okay..."

Slightly disappointed, Harry broke the silence again, "So, you looking forward to Hogwarts? Will Ginny be in your year?"

She answered in a quiet voice"Yeah, yeah, so, you and... Emma... You were sleeping in the same bed?"

He hesitantly answered, "Um, yes?" After a few seconds of silence, he heard a crash on the other end of the phone, "Hermione? You okay? Hermione! You there? Hello?"

Hermione was currently stomping off to her room, alternating between muttering and shouting obscenities. After some time, Harry just went back to bed and pulled Emma into him, breathing her in to calm his pacing heart.

* * *

Harry didn't know what to do. After his short and awkward phone call with Hermione, he had hoped that she would call him back but so far, she had not, and neither had she picked up any of the numerous times he had called. The next day, she would be leaving for Hogwarts. And that meant that he won't be able to contact her anymore. He had been sending all his letters to her parents' house before, but now he wasn't sure how to send a letter to Hogwarts. He contemplated sending a message via muggle mail, like Aunt Petunia had, but the chances of interception of his message seemed too high that way.

He was desperately hoping that Hermione would call him now, so that he could explain, and ask, what was going on. Her reaction had actually surprised him. To him, it had sounded like she had thrown her phone; could it be because she was mad that he hadn't told her about Emma or was there any chance that it had something to do with her having feelings for him? Or was he reading too much into it and it was just the phone lines that were causing a problem.

Emma came home to find a sleeping Harry sprawled on the couch, mouth open, cartoons running on the television and a half eaten pizza on the table in front of him. She sneaked past him to get a coke from the kitchen and came back and sat down on the couch beside him and grabbed a slice of the pizza.

Her second slice was suddenly intercepted by Harry's mouth who held her hand in place while he devoured the pizza.

"Oi! Get your own!"

Harry just flashed her a grin, mouth full of pizza.

She picked up the last remaining slice and got up and stepped away from the couch,

"Now you're not getting any of this one." After taking a bite, she asked, "When did you order it? It's still hot."

"Oh, uh, it just arrived about fifteen minutes ago, I must have dozed off while eating."

"It's 6:30. Didn't you have lunch?" Emma asked after swallowing another bite.

"I guess not. I must have forgot. Or is it I must have forgotten?"

"I don't know. But nice redirection," Emma told Harry, coming back and sitting beside him on the couch. "She didn't call?"

"No."

"Maybe, her... Phone stopped working."

"No, she could've just called from a payphone or from someone else's phone. Emma, I'm getting a little scared. What if she was attacked?"

"Attacked? Harry, you're being unreasonable. She was calling from her own home, right?"

"Yes, but you don't understand, you don't know."

"What don't I know?"

Seeing the look on his face, she said, "Harry, you can tell me. Actually, now you have to tell me, or my brain is going to start making assumptions."

After some very long seconds, Harry sighed, "Alright! I'll tell you. Actually, you know what? I'm sick of keeping secrets from you. I'm going to tell you everything, okay?"

"Awesome! Do it."

"Now, what I'm about to tell you will be really hard to believe. It may seem like a joke. But just trust me, I'll prove it to you. I'm not going to joke around. What I'm gonna say -"

"Jesus! Get on with it already!" She interrupted him.

"Um, actually I think I'll just start by showing it to you. Now, just prepare yourself, okay? This will probably seem very irrational and freaky to you. Well, it is. But not in a bad way. I'm still the same person."

"What?"

"Just wait a second." He went to their room and came out after a few moments, holding a wooden stick.

"Now, this isn't just a fancy wooden stick. This... is a magic wand." He told her, giving her a nervous smile.

"Um, what?"

"Remember what I told you! This isn't a joke. It is real. Magic! Is real. I can show you some, if you're ready for it."

"Harry! You're to tell me your secrets, not give me a magic show!"

"Trust me, it's not. Well, it is, but it's real magic. I was amazed when I found out too. But it's true. Magic exists. But it's kept hidden. And not everyone can do it. You're born with it. And I am a wizard."

"Wow!"

"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" Harry responded to her sarcastic tone with a mischievous grin. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

He suddenly pointed the wand towards her and a jet of sliver light came out of it and hit her in the stomach, leaving her doubled up laughing. After a few seconds, he stopped and a little hesitantly said, "Sorry about that! First spell that came to mind."

"What the hell was that?"

"Comeback for the tickle fights! I don't know how, but you cheated in them. ... Alright, alright, just kidding. That was a tickling spell."

"How could you do that?"

"I didn't hurt you, did I? I tried to make it really weak."

"No, I mean, how did you do that?"

"Oh, that was Rictusempra!"

As much as Emma loved seeing the amazing spark in his eye as he said it, she still couldn't see how this could be anything but a weird, advanced, joke. Harry took one look at her and in response to the doubt in her eyes, he came and sat down beside her, put his right arm around her and smiled gleefully at her.

"Okay, put your hand on mine. C'mon. Do it." When she didn't, he switched the wand to his left hand and she watched dumbstruck as he slid the wand into her hand and wrapped his hand around hers, his fingers barely touching the wand. "I don't know if this will work but I really hope it does. Okay, Emma, you remember our first kiss?"

She looked sideways at his smiling face and whispered "Yeah!"

He whispered back slowly, his fingers softly stroking hers, "Now I don't know about you, but it is the one of the happiest memories of my entire life. Actually, most of my happy memories are of you now. Just imagine your happiest memory, whatever it is, okay?" Suddenly, his grip on her hand tightened and he clearly spoke out, "Expecto Patronum!"

Emma gasped out loud and almost jumped as an enormous white animal erupted from the wand. She was filled with an amazing warmth that spread throughout her body, intensifying when Harry squeezed her hand and kissed the top of her head.

"Can you see it?" He asked her.

"It's amazing." She answered, staring at the stag trotting around her living room, "Can we keep it?"

Harry laughed and took the wand out of her hand, making the warmth lessen and the beautiful stag to slowly fade away.

"Sorry... Prongs takes a lot of concentration."

"Prongs?"

"Yes, that's his name."

"He's beatiful."

"Yeah, I'm glad you could see him. I wasn't sure if you would."

"How did you...?"

Harry's face developed a massive grin when he answered, "Magic!"

* * *

**A/N :**

Hello! How's it going?

This is a rewrite of Your Turn... But instead of a one shot, it'll now be a two or three shot... I don't yet know how it will turn out in the end, but it will definitely not be depressing like Your Turn!

Canon except the epilogue and Harry/Ginny and Harry's interest in Hermione!

Anyway... Hope you liked it!


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